Bluetooth 4.0 on the Way

Bluetooth was revolutionary when it appeared and it still is a very useful medium to transfer data. Unfortunately, it had a huge power consumption problem. Keeping a Bluetooth device on, especially when a battery is involved, is a no-no. Therefore it has not been used as much as it could have been.

Now, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group has announced that the new and improved Bluetooth 4.0 is ready for release. While it has a few improvements over its predecessor, its most significant improvement is its low power usage when transmitting over short distances. This feature alone could bring Bluetooth into the mass market in ways never seen before.

By the end of the year, you could encounter Bluetooth enable watches, pedometers, smart meters etc., basically anything that runs off of a coin cell battery. That’s right, a coin cell battery; that is how efficient they have made this release. Unlike Wi-Fi, which requires a continuous connection, Bluetooth only needs connect to another device based on the requirement. Hence its low requirement of power.

The technology took its time in coming though. Apple and Nike have been using similar proprietary technology for a while now, to transmit data from Nike shoes to the iPod. Even Vision Max 3D glasses from Monster, uses a low power technology to maintain its connection with the TV. Bluetooth 4.0, however, has the potential to be very big. With over 13,000 member companies in the Bluetooth SIG (Intel, Nokia, etc), you can be sure that we will be awash in a blue flood before long.